


Date Night: New Midgardian Prison Edition

by OnceAndFloral



Series: date night [1]
Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Marius has weird tastes in candles, Multi, Other, Romantic Fluff, prison shenanigans, thanks to the mechschord
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:21:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23885890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnceAndFloral/pseuds/OnceAndFloral
Summary: The Mechs cordially invite Lyfrassir to date night in their prison cell. And by "cordially invite" I mean "orchestrate an elaborate scheme".
Relationships: Ivy Alexandria/Raphaella la Cognizi/Lyfrassir Edda/Marius von Raum
Series: date night [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1781014
Comments: 21
Kudos: 253





	Date Night: New Midgardian Prison Edition

“Why am I here?” Lyfrassir asks their escort to the jail. 

“The prisoners said they were going to refuse to talk to anyone that wasn’t you,” He replies. “Don’t know why.”

They both walked in silence for a while. Lyfrassir fiddles with a piece of loose string in their pocket, keeping their eyes on the floor before them. Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm.

“You're the one that first went in with Astrid when she interrogated the Mechanisms, right?” The guard suddenly asks.

Lyfrassir's shoulders tense a little bit at that. “Yes.”

“What are they like?”

Lyfrassir… Didn't really like to think about that interview. The Mechanisms had taken a strange interest in them and had tried to ask them questions instead of answering. This made Astrid pretty pissed and made Lyfrassir a good bit nervous. Anything the Mechanisms had tried to ask was vague, but it didn't comfort them to know that space pirates found them interesting in some way.

“Out of their minds,” Lyfrassir ends up saying. “I'm surprised we've ever gotten good information out of them.

He hums in acknowledgement, and that’s all Lyfrassir gets. It’s another long stretch of silence until they reach the cell door. The guard inputs the code and steps aside. Inside, they can see von Raum and Alexandria sitting patiently at the table set up in the center. La Cognizi must be in one of the far flung corners. They take as deep and quiet a breath as they can, and step over the threshold. 

The door’s heavy lock clunks behind them as it shuts. Lyfrassir pulls out the chair on the other side of the table and sits down. “Alright, now that I’m here, will you tell me about the digital shutdown in the city square?”

“Oh, but my dear Inspector, I thought you worked in the Transport police?” von Raum’s grin is smug, arrogant, and Lyfrassir wants to wipe it off his stupid face.

“Yes, but _someone_ apparently demanded to talk to me before giving information.” Lyfrassir keeps their voice steady and cold. They don’t want this becoming a regular occurrence. 

“I wonder who that could possibly be.”

Lyfrassir glances around. As gleeful as von Raum seems, they can tell that he and Alexandria are waiting for something. The anticipation is hanging in the air and it sets them on edge. Was la Cognizi behind them, waiting to pounce? They don’t dare turn around to check for fear of it being true.

“What do you want?” Lyfrassir asks.

“I thought it was pretty clear that we wanted to talk to you,” Alexandria says.

“But that’s not all there is, is it? There’s something else.”

von Raum holds a hand to his chest. “Why, I find it offensive you would think of us as so duplicitous.”

“I‒” And just like that, all of the lights go out. Lyfrassir freezes, completely tense as they wait for something to happen. It’s then that they realize that if the lights have gone out, that means the power is down, which _means_ the door can’t be opened, and no one could help Lyfrassir even if they screamed, and oh, gods, the Mechanisms really were going to kill them‒

Something sparked in the darkness. Lyfrassir flinched as von Raum’s face was revealed by the flickering light of a candle. The grin plastered across it quickly disappeared, though.

“Inspector? Are you alright?” He asks.

“Wh‒what? Of course I’m alright, what are you talking about?”

“Well, you just look kind of… scared.”

“We’ve never seen you scared before,” Ivy adds.

“No, I’m okay, I just‒” They break off as they realize von Raum is pulling out more candles and lighting them by flicking his fingers. “What the Hel are you doing?”

“I’m making mood lighting!” he continues to set more candles on the table. “The guards took my supply of Midsummer’s Night last date night, so we’ll have to settle for Blush Bouquet.”

“How’re you lighting those?” Lyfrassir asks. An instant later, they realize something much more important. _“Date night?”_

von Raum ignored their second question in favor of answering the first. “I’ve got some steel bits in my mechanized hand! I’ve been practicing with a little flint for a couple decades to get this trick down.”

“Okay, I would like to return to the ‘date night’ bit.”

A plate of pasta is set down on the table in front of them. Lyfrassir looks up to see la Cognizi carrying a stack of dishes and silverware. “You’re being officially courted by us.”

Enough candles have been set up that the whole cell is cast in a soft golden glow. Alexandria has begun setting up the chairs in a more conversational arrangement than the previous interrogative one as Raphaella puts down plates. Lyfrassir was having a Hel of a time trying to process all of this. 

They’re still in shock when von Raum stops lighting candles and pulls out his violin to tune it. “What melody are we in the mood for tonight?”

“The pavane sounds nice right about now,” la Cognizi says.

The first notes of the violin are enough to snap Lyfrassir out of their trance. “Why?”

“We thought it would be rather rude of security to be watching an intimate moment,” Alexandria gestured to the now unoperational cameras. “Plus, we decided that you should go through character development and quit your job on your own instead of being fired.”

“And Marius really wanted that mood lighting,” la Cognizi muses. He stuck his tongue out at her as he played.

A million more questions ran through Lyfrassir’s head, but all they could get out is, “How?”

“Pulled some strings, is all,” Alexandria says. “Plus, Jonny’s more of a romantic than he lets on. Likes happy endings, and all that.”

Lyfrassir refrains from asking who Jonny is. “And you… you _like_ me?”

“Yes, was that not clear enough?”

la Cognizi gestures from Lyfrassir to the pasta. “How much would you like? We promise it’s not poisoned.”

“Just a bit for now.” What the fuck else were they supposed to do, refuse? “I’d ask how you got or made freshly cooked pasta, but I assume the answer will be vague and unsatisfying.”

“Ah, you’re learning!” von Raum says brightly.

They look down at the candles, at the food, then back up to the Mechs’ gentle smiles. “Why me?” they ask softly.

“Why not?” von Raum quips. Alexandria punches his shoulder, causing a stutter in his playing.

“You’re cute, so that’s one thing going for you,” la Cognizi says. Lyfrassir feels their face grow hot at that. “I think I personally first fell in love a little bit when I heard you humming _Stranger_ when you were walking by our cell once.”

“I‒I mean, your music isn’t _bad_ or anything, it’s just annoying when we’re trying to interrogate you.”

la Cognizi’s lips twist up in a smirk. “Well, the second time for me was when we overheard you yelling at another officer… What was the phrase they used, Ivy?”

“I believe it was ‘Asgardian bootlicking piss boy’.”

If possible, Lyfrassir’s face grows even hotter at that. Not one of their most graceful moments. Still, la Cognizi dramatically swoons in her seat. “Ah yes, pure poetry, that was.”

“You’re much more fun than the other cops,” von Raum agrees. “And believe us, we’re working on that ‘other’ bit of that phrase.”

Even with the slight against their job (which to be fair, Lyfrassir couldn’t really blame them), they smile.

Once Lyfrassir managed to compartmentalize their original fear, dinner with the Mechanisms was actually quite pleasant. They smile at their banter, and it turns out whoever out of them made the pasta was a pretty good cook. They even take a second plate, and it wouldn’t have even been a bad way to go out if it was poisoned.

“If I may be a little forward?” Alexandria asks suddenly.

“Okay.” That’s all they can say. Okay.

She cups their jaw with one hand and leans in to kiss them. Her tongue runs over the seam of their lips, and they unconsciously try to follow her when she pulls back again a moment later. Oh. Wow. Was it something about Ivy that made it feel like electricity was crackling up their spine or was that just them?

They realize all at one that they just called her Ivy, not Alexandria. Lyfrassir doesn’t think they mind that all that much.

“You had a little something there,” Ivy explains with the corner of her lips quirked up.

“Oh.” They notice Marius and Raphaella giggling to the side, and somehow they know that it’s out of fondness.

Raphaella stands up from her seat and offers one hand each to Ivy and Lyfrassir. “May I have a dance with the two loveliest people in the Yggdrasil system?”

“Rude,” Marius pouts as Ivy accepts Raphaella's hand and stands alongside her.

“Don’t fret, Marius dear, you can be the handsomest.” 

“I can accept that.”

“Would you do the honors of playing us some music to dance to?”

With a grin, Marius picked up the violin he had set down in the course of the meal and started to play a waltz. Something in A minor, if Lyfrassir’s old music lessons held up. They rise to their feet and step to the side with Ivy and Raphaella. 

It’s a three-way waltz, so they’re clumsy and their feet all nearly collide several times, but that almost makes it better. Lyfrassir laughs for the first time in a while. It feels like settled dust clearing from their lungs. They work in tandem with Ivy to dip Raphaella back, and more laughter rings against the walls of the cell. 

“You know, if I knew I would be on a date tonight I might’ve worn something nicer,” Lyfrassir grins.

“There’s a 64% percent chance that you wouldn’t have come if you knew,” Ivy comments.

“Besides,” Raphaella says. “It would be weird to see you in something besides a dress shirt and that stupid coat. It’s basically your evening finest.”

Lyfrassir steps back and curtsies, lifting their coat as if it were the skirt of a dress. “I’ll have to keep that in mind then.”

An arm loops around their elbow and they realize the violin music has stopped. “It’s my turn for a spin.”

They snort, but let him spin them to the side. “So Blush Bouquet, huh?”

“Midsummer’s Night is my favorite, but like I said the guards took them on our last date night. Something about fire being able to be used as a weapon.”

“You’re a real candle aficionado, hm?”

“What can I say? They’re nice.”

Marius dips them low to the ground before they can answer, kissing them sweet and firm. Lyfrassir thinks about protesting only for a brief moment, and then closes their eyes to savor the feeling. They run their fingers through the short curls at the back of his head, smiling, smiling, smiling. They don’t think they’ve smiled as much in their life as they have tonight, and it sends a pleasant burn through their cheeks.

“The power should be fixed soon,” Marius says when they break away as if he hadn’t just stolen all of the air from Lyfrassir’s lungs. “We should get the cell reset so that they aren’t suspicious when they get the door open.” 

“Ah. Okay.”

It’s sort of like coming down from a high, as Raphaella whisks away the plate and food to wherever she had them hidden before and Marius blows out the candles. Remembering reality isn’t all that fun.

“So, how successful were we?” Ivy asks between kisses.

“Incredibly, I would say.” They hesitate. “I’m guessing this isn’t really something we could do again?”

“Not this specifically, no. It’d look highly suspicious if the power were to go out when you were interrogating us again.” She tilts her head. “Especially considering how distinctive the way we wrecked the power is. Unfortunately, it had to be done so that it would give us enough time.”

They don’t like how their hands are shaking, so they twine their fingers with hers. Lyfrassir feels Marius sidle up behind them, his stubble scratching against their neck as he presses his lips to it. “We can always come meet you on the outside.”

“.... What?”

“Where do you think Marius got all the candles from?” Raphaella asks. “They weren’t exactly allowed with us through intake.”

“So you can just. Leave. Anytime you want? And you’ve done it before?”

“Yup.”

“Why would you come back?”

“Well, free board and free rent,” Marius counts off on his fingers. “Plus, it’s where you are.”

Hah. A warm feeling spread through Lyfrassir’s veins like honey. It was like a milder version of when Ivy had first kissed the, but suffused through their whole body. Like laying in the sunlight. They couldn’t even think of what they could possibly say.

Then the spell was broken as the lights flickered on. It only took another few seconds before they heard they heard the faint beeping noises of the code being input on the other side of the door. Marius nudged them towards it, but they kept their grip on Ivy’s hand.

“Go,” she says, pulling back. Their fingertips hang onto each other, one final place of contact, before it breaks and Lyfrassir is thrown to the storm as the door crashes open behind them.

“Inspector Edda, are you alright!?” The guard’s question sounds more like a demand.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” they assure him, if only to make sure he doesn’t yell again. Lyfrassir starts trying to hurry out of the room. “Everything is fine.”

“They didn’t hurt you, did th‒”

“The prisoners made no move the entire time I was in there. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve just had a rather stressful experience, and I’d like to go _home.”_

Thankfully, he says nothing else. Before the door shuts, they get a glimpse of Marius waving goodbye. They have just barely enough time to return the motion before the wall of metal shuts between them.

Lyfrassir doesn’t talk to anyone on the way out of the station. There’s a concoction of sadness, residual love and a little bit of guilt settled heavy in their stomach. When they get home to their apartment, they strip off their coat and throw it onto one of the chairs. The gentle _thud_ of something in the pockets hitting it brought them back to their senses.

They pull out a blueish-black candle. The label read _Midsummer’s Night_. Removing the lid, they find a folded up slip of paper that says _“saved the last one for you :-)”_ Lyfrassir smiles, lights the candle and puts it on the counter.

**Author's Note:**

> it's MY fanfic and i get to choose the self indulgent plotline!
> 
> also the working title for this was "the mechs speedrun dating lyfrassir"


End file.
